Quad Tracked Guitars - Recording Tips

[PLX]

Anything ?

 

[Alex Kenivel]

@Iron1 quads all of his tracks AFAIK

 

[Digital Igloo]

Two to four completely different sounds; tracking the same sound more than twice (and the two should be panned opposite from one another anyway) just adds mud and loses definition. Make sure none of them crap on the vocals; even if you've panned the guitars hard left/right, it sometimes helps to sidechain duck them a few dB with something like Trackspacer.

Low cut and EQ each distinct sound individually, compress as a group. Automate the bus so it's louder in the choruses. Blend in the bus while your monitors are down at the threshold of hearing.

 

[Orvillain]

I'm not a fan of quad-tracking guitars to be honest. I'd rather add a bit more gain to the amps and just dual-track. But if you are going to quad track, reduce the gain and bass on the amps a bit. That'll help it sit more in the mix a bit easier.

Be careful of the 1-3kHz frequency range. It can get very ice-picky when you add all of these takes together.

The rest of it is just making sure you are tighter than a nun's chuff when you perform.

 

[Whizzinby]

Two to four completely different sounds; tracking the same sound more than twice (and the two should be panned opposite from one another anyway) just adds mud and loses definition.

Yeah in my experiments with this, when I want to do heavily layered stuff, I’ve landed on using two tracks of one guitar hard panned left and right, and a different guitar up the center. I’ve not really found doubling anything that’s being hard panned helping, just tends to lose some definition.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Have a clear reason for doing it, because its quite a lot of work to undertake. Make sure it sounds good as you're going. You need the takes to lock in very tight timing, tuning and performance wise and you don't really want to sacrifice feel.

2 well played tracks will sound much better than 4 sloppy+heavily edited ones.

Definitely less gain than you might use otherwise to avoid things getting mushy.

 

[gonzoknife]

With that many tracks I think parts and voicing are essential. Don't play the exact same thing with every guitar. Different types of guitars are also helpful.

 

[PLX]

I was watching a video on this from that "beards & riffs" dude, and he was shelving hi & lo on the stereo buss, but he also notched out 153Hz.

"To account for buildup" he said.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I kinda like triple tracked guitars Two tracks panned fairly hard and a single track up the middle

 

[PLX]

I kinda like triple tracked guitars Two tracks panned fairly hard and a single track up the middle

That's exactly what I did here (center track is stereo track, phased 180° ) going for the AiC tone on "All Secrets Known"..

 

[fretworn]

Loop recording in logic pro is your friend

 

[JiveTurkey]

That's exactly what I did here (center track is stereo track, phased 180° ) going for the AiC tone on "All Secrets Known"..

This sounds good. Are you feeling like you are missing something in the results from your current methods?

 

[PLX]

This sounds good. Are you feeling like you are missing something in the results from your current methods?

It's a new technique for me, that's all.

Picked up a lot of tricks and techniques from watching the YouTube video on how that dude with the beard replicated Jerry Cantrell's recorded guitar tones.

 

[Orvillain]

I was watching a video on this from that "beards & riffs" dude, and he was shelving hi & lo on the stereo buss, but he also notched out 153Hz.

"To account for buildup" he said.

At a physics level it isn't quite like this, but to keep it simple.

Imagine you've got an audio source with a large resonant peak at 150hz. Every time you record that source, you're going to increase that resonant peak more and more and more.

So if you plan ahead, you can address it at the source so you don't get that build up.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I always quad track rhythm guitars. If done right and tight it doesn‘t sound muddy or bloated at all, and I really like the slight chorus-like effect it creates.

 

[PLX]

At a physics level it isn't quite like this, but to keep it simple.

Imagine you've got an audio source with a large resonant peak at 150hz. Every time you record that source, you're going to increase that resonant peak more and more and more.

So if you plan ahead, you can address it at the source so you don't get that build up.

Isn't there a way in Reaper DAW to plot the curve of tracks and see (visually) any peaks, or frequency buildups ?

That way you know what frequency needs to be notched out ?

 

[fretworn]

You know what’s wild is to go watch two identical tracks, side-by-side, reinforce each other in a mix, and then slip one a few samples and watch all the cancellations. Flipping voodoo …

Edited for clarity… Meaning, that your waveform, being a sine wave might catch that offending frequency out of phase

 

[Evilution]

Isn't there a way in Reaper DAW to plot the curve of tracks and see (visually) any peaks, or frequency buildups ?

That way you know what frequency needs to be notched out ?

Im not sure at the moment if it is a Reaper plugin, buy i definately have a spectrum analyzer plugin and it can be useful but always use your ears when mixing foremost.

I personally dont believe in quad tracking, i feel it would just muddy the mix and adding a guitar in the center in a mix with vocals would likely interfere with the vocals since they haven similar frequencies.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I don't usually quad but I did it in my last Do Something submission. I used the same 6 string guitar double tracked and panned (there's a center guitar at times, too), and an 8 string guitar double tracked and panned. Tones were similar but kind of different.. using the same amp model in HX Native, just different guitars and IRs.